The Food: Approachable and fun (“but not whimsical,” says owner Sebasten Centner) plates, made using food from local suppliers: halibut tacos, flatbread pizza, buttermilk chicken and waffles and a ramen noodle slaw all find a place on the menu. “We wanted dishes that people could look at and recognize, but that may have a twist,” explains Centner. As a play on dim sum, servers come around with food carts in between courses so diners can make impulse two-bite purchases (quail eggs on homemade chips, for example). “The point is not to overstuff diners,” says Centner, but to create some continuity to the meal and provide “bursts of flavour during the lulls.”

The Drinks: A short list of easy-drinking beer, on tap and in bottles; a wine menu featuring both VQA and international selections, some available by the glass; and the bar’s “Shaken and Stirred” collection, six signature cocktails that are made-to-order in twee glass bottles and then poured table-side.

The Place: Taking up the top floor of the Manulife Centre, the sleek, 2,500-square-foot space with 21-foot barrel-vaulted ceilings can seat 90 (or let 250 cocktail-drinking folks mingle comfortably). Oh, and there’s the view: 51 storeys above Bay and Bloor, The One Eighty gives guests a chance to see the city from really (really, really) high up, and not just from behind windows—both north and south patios will open at the end of April.